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THE I-LAND: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: We push into a view of a tropical island in the middle of nowhere. As we see a beach shot from above, there’s a woman lying on the beach, unconscious, a conch shell next khổng lồ her.
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The Gist: The woman wakes up, và blows into the shell lớn see if anyone else is there. A second woman is awake, holding a knife. Neither of them know their names or how they got there. Instead of working together, though, the second woman immediately pulls the knife on the first, leading the first to lớn grab it from her by force.
Eventually, we see eight other people wake up, all clad in similar white shirts và khaki pants. The first time they gather, the woman who had the knife, K.C. (Kate Bosworth), figures out that everyone has their names sown into tags on their shirts. Chase (Natalie Martinez), who had the conch, tries to take the lead and gather a group to explore the island, but K.C. Rebuffs her, citing their earlier confrontation và calling her a “bitch.” Eventually, Brody (Alex Pettyfer) và Donovan (Anthony Lee Medina) agree lớn go.
At even intervals on the beach, Chase finds things lượt thích a hatchet, a first aid kit, and other things. When Brody takes his shirt off to lớn use it as a sack, Donovan sees where this is going & returns khổng lồ the group. Chase và Brody find a waterfall with fresh water, a potential place for the group to lớn settle. Brody wants to make the place “our little secret”, and they start khổng lồ get romantic, until Chase backs off but Brody attacks to the point where she needs to lớn defend herself.
Meanwhile, back on the beach, Donovan returns & encourages everyone lớn go for a swim. Most of them go, but they’re immediately surrounded by sharks. Someone or something pushes Donovan towards a shark & he’s bitten & dragged away. Everyone assumes he’s dead. Brody tries to lớn encourage everyone to move to the shade, & when Chase comes back, she beats on Brody for attacking her. Later there’s a debate on whether khổng lồ settle by the waterfall or stay on the beach lớn summon help. Chase has other ideas, as she tries to lớn push something Mason (Gilles Geary) & Hayden (Michelle Veintimilla) found — a sign saying “FIND YOUR WAY BACK.”
Our Take: Created by Anthony Salter, with executive producer Neil LaBute writing và directing many of the limited series’ seven episodes, The I-Land is trying to be Lost, but as so many “grand mystery” shows that have debuted in Lost‘s shadow, The I-Land‘s central mystery isn’t really interesting. It seems fairly obvious that these ten people are on this island for a reason; their memories were erased and they were sent there khổng lồ see who will survive under artificially-created stress, lượt thích those sharks hanging around close to lớn shore. Someone put them there, và the reason they are there is that most of them are likely not good people.
We know this because, while their identities are wiped, their innate skills & experience isn’t. We know K.C. Is confrontational and keeps lớn herself. Chase is aggressive but wants to find answers — we also see her dreaming a hazy image of her holding a gun at someone, a fragment of her life before the I-Land. Brody obviously doesn’t care about other people’s boundaries — “Here, it’s either sex or no sex”.
We’re not sure about the others yet, except for the fact that Taylor (Kota Eberhardt) likes lớn get some sun. While it feels lượt thích the main characters will be Chase, K.C. & Brody, we should hold our judgement about the rest until the season is completed. Still, the only reason why there seems to be ten people is so five generic characters can get picked of before the series ends.
The I-Land isn’t bad, per se, it’s just not all that memorable, likely because of some stiff dialogue và a penchant for amping up the conflict without earning it. The trailer makes it pretty clear that this is a simulation of some sort of survival game, but the first episode doesn’t make us want lớn get far enough khổng lồ find out about it.
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Sex & Skin: Some of the women hang in their sports bras and panties, & the men take their shirts off. Besides the flirtation between Chase and Brody, though, there isn’t much sex.
Parting Shot: Chase, frustrated that no one will listen to her about the sign, she tosses the conch against a rock and storms away. We see a closeup of the broken conch, which says “Property of the I-Land” and has a transmitter inside. So it’s pretty obvious that someone is watching.
Sleeper Star: No one stands out so far. Và that’s a problem.
Most Pilot-y Line: When Brody says khổng lồ Chase that they should keep the waterfall their secret, she says flirtingly, “I see… So it’s a whole survival of the fittest kind of thing?” to lớn which Brody replies, “Well, I mean, you are pretty fit.” That makes “How you doin’?” sound lượt thích Shakespeare by comparison.
Our Call: SKIP IT. The I-Land‘s clunky dialogue & generic characters make us care very little about why these ten jerks are on this island. And, yes, they’re all pretty much jerks.
Joel Keller (
joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting & tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the new york Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard & elsewhere.
